Natural wine – a quest for balance

For a while now organic and biodynamic wines have been gradually gaining ground shoulder to shoulder with slow food and healthy lifestyle.

Even though this trend may be perceived as a novelty, only few decades back there was practically no need to look for an organic shop or market where one could get groceries that not only, though not necessarily, looked good but also tasted great.

Gradual changes in agriculture and food processing and switching from traditional to science based approach have lead to substantial reduction of nature’s control over the process. It’s safe to say though that using latest scientific achievements in this area is justified as long as it doesn’t translate into poor quality and tasteless commercial mass production.

But let’s stick to wine.

At the end of May I went to RAW – an artisan wine fair in London, a major event of this type where over 200 growers from 15 different countries presented their natural wines. A great opportunity to sink deeper into the topic and get first hand opinions from the producers and consumers.

What’s different about these wines? A lot has been written on the subject already, but in short, priority is given to Mother Nature in both viticulture and wine making process. In order to produce a decent wine we can’t really let the plants grow freely, and therefore have to tame them by planting them in rows, training and regular trimming. Consequently, the aim is to interfere with the natural environment of the vineyard as little as possible, and give preference to work done by hand rather than by machine. Another key factor is very strict control of chemicals and additives used all the way from vineyard to bottle aimed at reducing them to the absolute minimum or abandoning them altogether.

The philosophy behind natural wine is fascinating and requires a lot of effort, discipline and dedication to put into practice and get good results. Many try, some succeed and other aim to combine both schools.

Along dozens of stands I found some excellent wines. Many surprises. But as with all products it’s critical to learn to look beyond the concept to distinguish between a real thing and a dressed-up substitute.

Some producers worth trying:

Shobbrook Wines, Barossa Valley, Australia

Viña Antiyal, Valle del Maipo, Chile

Antadze Winery, Kakheti, Georgia

Chveni Gvino, Kakheti, Georgia

Laurent Bannwarth, Alsace, France

Champagne Tarlant, Champagne, France

Les Vins Contés, Loire, France

Aquila del Torre, Friuli Venezia Giulia, Italy

Principiano, Piemonte, Italy

San Polino, Tuscany, Italy

Seresin Estate, Marlborough, New Zealand